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CLARION – Behind 23 combined kills from
Kellie Bartman and
Kaitlyn Anderson the Clarion University women's volleyball team advanced to the PSAC Championship game with a 3-0 win over Kutztown Friday night at Tippin Gym.
The Golden Eagles will now face Edinboro in the PSAC Title game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Tippin Gym. A White Out Tippin Event has been called on the heels of a successful one Friday night that saw a Clarion-volleyball record crowd of 665 celebrate the victory.
“It was an awesome crowd,” Clarion's fourth-year head coach Jennifer Harrison said. “The girls really fed off it. We are really, really excited about the number of people who been coming out to support us.”
The crowd saw the Golden Eagles (28-4), the PSAC-West champion, get out to a bit of a slow start, Kutztown (21-11), the second-place team from the PSAC-East led 20-18 in the first set, before pulling out a 25-22 win in the opening set. The Golden Eagles then settled in and took the next two sets by identical 25-17 scores to advance to the PSAC Championship match for the second time in four years – Clarion is looking for its first PSAC Title since 1988.
Clarion was especially strong in the second set when it hit .375 (15 kills, 3 errors, 32 attempts).
“I definitely think we picked it up in the second set,” Harrison said. “I think early on the girls were worried about the Kutztown block instead of just doing what they do best.”
Anderson led the way with 10 kills, 10 digs and a .304 hitting percentage (10-3-23). She also had three service aces.
“She had a fantastic match,” Harrison said. “They were leaving her a little bit of the line, and she was taking a cross-court angle, which is a tough ball to dig. She stayed aggressive, which is what we need her to do.”
Bartman added 13 kills, six digs and two blocks, while
Rebecca Webb had seven kills and three blocks and hit .538 (7-0-13).
“Rebecca is really stepping up,” Harrison said. “She has become so much more aggressive as a player.”
Lindsay Confer led Kutztown with eight kills, while Jamie Celia had 10 digs.
Clarion now faces an Edinboro team that it split with during the regular season. The Fighting Scots won 3-1 in Edinboro before Clarion returned the favor with a 3-0 victory at Tippin Gym.
“They are a really well coached team,” Harrison said. “They run very fast, which means we need to stay in system. We have to stop their middle and their right-side hitter. That was what we did really efficiently the last time we played them.”
NOTES – Clarion is now 28-27 all time in postseason play including 9-2 at home. The Golden Eagles improved to 10-10 in PSAC Tournament play including 3-0 at home … Clarion is in the PSAC Championship match for the fifth time in school history including the second time under Harrison. The last time Clarion reached the title game it lost 3-0 to California in 2007 … Saturday night's match will be the first home PSAC Championship match in Clarion history. Admission is $7 for adults, $2 for non-PSAC-member-institution students and free to PSAC-member-institution students … Edinboro, who finished in a tie for the PSAC-West crown with Clarion but lost the tiebreaker with the Golden Eagles for home-court advantage, beat Lock Haven 3-0 in the first semifinal match Friday.
